OTTAWA -- The second annual edition of the Ottawa Christmas Market at Lansdowne Park won’t happen this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group announced Monday.
“The Ottawa Christmas Market, at its core, brings people together to celebrate the holiday season. Unfortunately, that just isn’t possible given our current reality,” OSEG CEO Mark Goudie said in a news release.
“The experience and magic of the Ottawa Christmas Market this year would simply not be up to our expectations.”
The European-style Christmas market launched last year, with the goal of replicating successful markets in cities such as Vienna, Munich and Toronto’s distillery district. It ran for four weekends in December.
OSEG said gathering limits and other restrictions would interfere with the experience this year, and the safety of guests, vendors and staff is the top priority.
Instead of the market, OSEG said it’s shifting to “Lights at Lansdowne,” which will include a canopy of lights in and around the plaza at Lansdowne.
That will include Ottawa’s largest Christmas tree, outside the Aberdeen Pavilion, and other ‘;Instagrammable elements,’ the release said.
The lights at Lansdowne open Nov. 27. The full Christmas market is scheduled to return in 2021.
